


A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

by theladyscribe



Series: Hockey WIP Amnesty [2]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, M/M, Pittsburgh Penguins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 12:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12132363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe
Summary: Though Sid's show is supportive of LGBTQ issues, he isn't officially out. He decided he didn't want his personal life to be a distraction. It's sort of the worst-kept secret in public broadcasting, but since he's never made an official statement, there've never been any problems.That doesn't mean his entire team is unaware of his massive crush on Evgeni Malkin, though. He comes into work the next day to find his desk papered with Geno's face. He takes it all down and starts working on the script for Geno's episode. He wants to make it a good one.





	A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

**Author's Note:**

> Please join me in handwaving the timeline, as there is no logical way that Sidney Crosby could have taken over Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood after Fred Rogers retired.

Sidney started as a child guest on _Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood_ , but he has slowly become a permanent fixture, his role increasing both in front of the camera and behind it. When Mr. Rogers steps down, Sidney is the natural inheritor of the show.

Sid gets to broaden the scope of the show, giving it more of an international appeal. He talks about missing home sometimes and one of the best episodes is the one where he goes back to Nova Scotia and plays pond hockey with his good friend Nate. It's an episode on homesickness.

It gains international attention because it's an Olympic year and Nate is a top NHL prospect. It also gets the attention of the Penguins. As it should, since it is filmed right there at the studio in downtown Pittsburgh.

 

Pens PR contacts the show. "One of our players wants to get involved," they say.

Sidney has to sit down. "Yes," he says immediately.

He doesn't even care who it is. It could be Tom Sestito for all he cares. This is a big deal. He loves the Pens and their support is huge.

Ms. Bullano says, "Great! We'll forward you Geno's summer schedule; let us know what works best for you guys."

Sidney is really glad he sat down.

Though Sid's show is supportive of LGBTQ issues, he isn't officially out. He decided he didn't want his personal life to be a distraction. It's sort of the worst-kept secret in public broadcasting, but since he's never made an official statement, there've never been any problems.

That doesn't mean his entire team is unaware of his massive crush on Evgeni Malkin, though. He comes into work the next day to find his desk papered with Geno's face. He takes it all down and starts working on the script for Geno's episode. He wants to make it a good one.

He decides to make it about learning a new language. He's done a few episodes with French and Spanish but this time he wants to talk about learning English as a second language. He'll do a lesson in the Land of Make-Believe on helping new friends with English when they want help and then - oh god - bring Geno on to talk about his experience learning English after that. It should be good as long as Sidney doesn't die on-screen.

They send the storyboard, script, and interview questions to the Pens for approval, and then they set the filming date for just before training camp.

It's the most popular episode since the trip to Nova Scotia. Malkin talks about not paying attention in school and how that was a mistake. He also talks about how he learned English from watching kids' shows with Sergei Gonchar's daughter, who watched Mr. Crosby and Sesame Street. Their chat is unscripted and Sid spends most of it trying not to blush hard enough the cameras pick it up. He is pretty sure he fails.

But it goes well! Geno isn't as camera shy or wooden as some of Sid's non-actor guests. And he's a natural with kids, talking to the guest kids of the week and asking them about school and what they do for fun.

It's so charming and Sid is so in over his head.

Afterward, he really doesn't expect to see Geno again, except on his television and occasionally from the nosebleed seats of Consol.

But before Geno leaves the studio, he stops Sid. "I come back sometime? We do tour of Consol?"

Sid doesn't answer because he's too busy already coming up with a storyline that could work for hockey. They can talk about teamwork, and he might be able to get Caitlin in the physics department at Carnegie-Mellon to demonstrate how they make the artificial ice for the rinks.

"Maybe we talk over dinner?" asks Geno. He's licking his lips and grinning, and Sidney is pretty sure his brain is shorting out.

"Okay," Sid says, feeling faint. Geno smiles wider.

"It's date. Give me number."

They go to dinner a few days later and spend most of it talking about what to do on the Consol episode.

Geno says he can get Dana to desmonstrate how he sets up everyone's equipment and he can probably get a couple of "the guys" to help with the teamwork lesson. "Horny and Duper are good guys, they do what I tell them," he assures Sidney.

Sid nods helplessly and digs into his sushi. (The restaurant Geno picked out is much fancier than Sid would have chosen. He's very glad that he budgets splurge money each month.)

They finish their dinner and Geno pays for the bill before Sidney can even argue with him. "You get next time," Geno says when he protests.

Sid hopes Geno doesn't mind $5 burgers. And then he trips, "Next time?"

Geno shrugs, visibly uncomfortable for the first time all evening. "I think maybe we see each other again? Before we tape show, yes?"

He looks nervous, which is what solidifies Sid's creeping feeling tonight that this is a date. An actual date, and not just a date to talk about a hypothetical episode of his show. Sid feels a little dizzy.

He realizes Geno is fidgeting with his keys, and Sid shakes himself enough to say, "Yes. Yes, of course."

Geno's smile is blinding. "Good."

They have several more dinner dates (turns out, Geno loves $5 burgers but wanted to impress Sidney with his favorite restaurant), and they spend most of them talking out more episode ideas (not just ones involving Geno, but ones about space and animals and friendship). Sid can't tell you how many dates they have before the one where Geno takes him back to his house ("just for coffee, promise") instead of home (it was or more than "just coffee"). After that one, they end most of their dates that way.

And the show is doing well. Ratings have skyrocketed, which means funding has increased, and Sidney knows it's not just due to Geno and his influence, but the support and enthusiasm of a professional athlete certainly hasn't hurt. He keeps trying to get himself back on the show ("Maybe I can be mailman, Sid!"), and finally there's an opportunity just before the playoffs. The Pittsburgh Zoo invites Mr. Crosby's Neighbourhood to visit their new python exhibit.

"Fangs for the Memories" is another big hit, helped along by the fact that the Penguins make it deep into the playoffs that year. After that, Geno becomes a regular guest on the show, making appearances in some of the field trip episodes and more than a few standard episodes. Sometimes he brings his friends, Estelle and Alex and Nataliya, to play, and they learn songs on Sid's piano and help him answer letters.

He always screens his letters beforehand, because you never know what people will send you, but he reads each and every one from children. He replies to all of them, too, either on-air or in writing, to make sure they know that he cares and that he reads their letters. And then he gets one that stops him cold.

It's from a girl who's obviously a little older than his usual letter-writers; the handwriting is too careful, too neat, to be from someone any younger than ten or eleven. She writes that she like-likes girls but she's scared of what might happen if she tells anyone.

Sid doesn't know what to do with it at first. He's still not out himself, not really, and he's been even more cautious now that he's dating Geno. He understands why she's scared. If he were entirely honest (and he tries to be), he's scared, too.

He talks it out with Geno. They argue back and forth about it, as they've become accustomed, hashing out all the good and bad of a major decision or statement on the show. (Geno really has become his second-in-command; he honestly should have a producer title, but he says no every time Sid offers it.) They talk about it for days, weeks, and finally Geno says, "You know what you need do, Sid."

And he does.

They write an entire episode around it. It's not really a special episode, though it feels a lot like one. The day's theme is being yourself and not someone else. It's a good one, all around.

At the end, Sidney sits down to answer letters, and he saves Melissa's for last.

He reads it out loud, intentionally leaving off her name in case she doesn't want anyone to know she sent it. He lays it back down on the desk and looks right at the camera. "I like you just the way you are," he says, "and you are just like me."

Sidney steels himself for the fallout of his announcement, fully expecting that to be the end of his show and the destruction of Fred Rogers' legacy. They lose some of their donors, yes, but they also gain many more. (He finds out later about the hashtag #SaveCrosby and the outpouring of support from the Internet.) By far the weirdest part of it, though, is what happens with Geno.

Pittsburgh's sports media has never been particularly kind to their best hockey player, always talking about how he's only brought them one Cup and wringing their hands that this will be the year he demands a trade or doesn't return from Russia, despite the convention halls' worth of evidence that Geno loves Pittsburgh at least as much as he loves Magnitogorsk. Sidney privately thinks that the only thing that could possibly drive Geno out of Pittsburgh is the media. And this time, they try. They've cottoned on to the fact that Geno has spent a lot of his free time over the last year or so with Sidney and drawn - admittedly, logical - conclusions from this information.

It doesn't seem to bother Geno, exactly, but it means they ask him about it at every media scrum. "What's your relationship with Sidney Crosby?" is the common refrain. "Are you seeing Mr. Crosby?" Geno usually demurs, either ignoring the question entirely or saying, "No comment." When he gets particularly annoyed with it, he magically loses his English and starts telling people off in Russian. He laughs when one of the headlines screeches "MR CROSBY RENDERS MALKIN SPEECHLESS."

"Is true," he shrugs, kissing Sid's shoulder. "Make me speechless all night."

Sid snorts. "They don't need to know it."

Geno hums. "I'm make _you_ speechless," he says against Sidney's neck. He snakes a hand around Sid's waist, grabbing at his belt.

"St-stop!" Sid laughs, "I'm trying to be serious here!"

"I'm serious, too, Sid," Geno says. "I'm make you speechless." Sid means to stop him, really, so they can have the conversation they really need to have about whether to make an official statement about their relationship but Geno is extremely persuasive.

They do eventually talk about it, and after a lengthy discussion with the Penguins PR team and the local public broadcasting station, they decide on a plan.

There's another special episode, this time on relationships, featuring kids with more than one mom or dad, kids with divorced and remarried parents, kids with single parents. They talk about how their families work and what happens when they fight. They talk about how their parents get mushy sometimes and how kissing is "gross" and how sometimes their parents go on dates.

"Do you go on dates, Mr. Crosby?" one of the kids asks, and it's the only scripted question of the episode.

"I do," Sidney says. "In fact, I'm going on a date tonight. He should be here any minute."

They wait a beat, and the doorbell rings. One of the kids answers it.

It's Geno, of course, and he leans down to be eye-level with the little girl who answered the door. "I'm here for pick up Sidney for date."

"He's not ready!" she says.

"Then I'm wait," Geno answers, and he rises so he can walk in the door.

"I'll tell him to hurry!" she shouts and she runs back to where Sidney is with the other kids. They insist on helping him get ready, which means he's wearing a sweater that doesn't match his shirt, which doesn't match his tie or his belt or his shoes.

"Look nice," Geno says.

Sidney blushes. "Thanks."

"Kiss him!" shouts Andre from behind Sid, the only one who didn't think kissing was the grossest thing ever.

Geno raises his eyebrows in question. "Okay?"

Sidney put his arms around him. "More than," he says, and he kisses his boyfriend.


End file.
